Singapore Will Invest S$724 Million in Technology Transformation

Singapore Will Invest S$724 Million in Technology Transformation
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Singapore will allocate S$724 million ($535 million) under a current plan to transform its economy, according to Bloomberg.

The additional investment includes S$500 million for digital technologies such as AI, super-computing and robotics under the five-year plan ending 2020, a government advisory panel on research and innovation said in a statement. The amount includes S$300 million announced by Minister for Communications and Information S. Iswaran earlier this month.

The Southeast Asian nation, a densely packed regional financial hub with a population of about 5.7 million, is seeking to attract more businesses and investors through the use of advanced technologies. The city-state plans to roll out artificial intelligence and cloud-based solutions to every business sector by 2020, Iswaran said March 4.

“We must continue to emphasize science and technology throughout our society,“ Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who chairs the panel, said. “We can’t afford to have people fearful and distrustful of science, and held captive by totally groundless anti-scientific beliefs.“

The government will invest S$80 million to develop cell-therapy manufacturing to build on its success in the biopharmaceutical sector, which contributed 4 percent to gross domestic product in 2018 and employs more than 7,700 highly skilled workers. Singapore will also set aside as much as S$144 million for food-related innovations to help in sustainable urban production.

To capture the economic opportunities presented by demand, the government will focus its research on plant and microbial-based proteins, as well as cell-based cultured meat. It will target investments to build on Singapore’s existing research capabilities in bio-engineering, nutrition, bio-processing and agri-food science to grow this new industry.